James P. McCullough was appointed directly from Perkins to help organize the church.  He arrived on June 7, and by June 25 the church accepted 48 charter members.  The church was chartered on July 27, 1961 as St. Luke's Methodist Church of Baton Rouge.. 
            After buying 3.5 acres of land at 6215 Glenoaks Drive in Baton Rouge, the first church and parsonage were built by the spring of 1963.  In the latter half of the decade, Rev. Walter R. Baker led the church as the chancel area was redesigned.  Based on the theme “Fishers of Men,” the pulpit was in the shape of part of a ship.  A free-standing wall between the communion area and a large window had a large fishing net draped across it.  A mobile of colored glass fish hung on one side.  The church members made these furnishings.
              After the church was destroyed by a fire in November 1975, services were held at the Seventh Day Adventist Chapel on Winbourne Avenue until the following March.  On March 1, 1976, the church bought the Park Forrest Baptist Church building at 3791 Aletha Drive.  The Baptist congregation shared the building until their new church was built.  St. Luke’s first Sunday service in the church was held on Palm Sunday, April 1977. 
           Classroom and administration wings were added to the building in the 1980s.